Just the other day (or was it last week?) I got myself a cup of coffee at the 7-11 downstairs. And I paid RM2.10 for it. Then, it got me thinking, 'Why did I do that?'. I could have gotten it cheaper from a Mamak's but people, this is Check Hup White Coffee, the one brand which I love for its nice aroma. But coming back to my senses, there is something which still bothers me even until now, and so, I am going to analyse this as best as I could.
Brand: Check Hup White Coffee
Price: RM2.10
Getting it: Pay the money to the buy behind the counter, open the cup, keep the lid (very important) take out the sachet of coffee. Open the sachet and dunk everything into the cup. Oh, before all this, you need to make sure the hot water dispenser is able to dispense skin scalding hot water when you want it and not next Tuesday. Next step is, pour about an inch of hot water so that the inferior looking little stirrer is confident enough to stir the mixture instead of swimming about in clumps making the poor little stick cry. Once that is done, get more hot water into the cup and tightly close the lid. And as you walk back to the room, you know you're drinking Check Hup White Coffee and layers of melted wax...
Brand: The Mamak's God-knows-what-its-inside Coffee
Price: RM2.00 (or RM1.80 if the fat lady is not there)
Getting it: Look around the counter. If there is a fat lady or a grumpy looking man, best go to 7-11. If you see a panic looking thin guy, this is your chance to save RM0.30. Make sure you tell him that you want HOT Coffee as the default drink is usually poured into ice. Your order will take about 3 minutes or more depending on who is free to do it. While waiting, you are allowed to look at customers sitting at their tables. Those burly strong, muscular, rippling men with cute... *ahem* Anyway, you save between 10sen to 30sen for a plastic bag full of hot coffee (and melted plastic) which has a capacity of more than a cup. Then again, its Check Hup White Coffee...
I am still not sure what is the underlying lesson here. For RM2.10, you get to indulge in your own illusion that you're making your own coffee while for a little but less, you have moar coffee of unknown origin mixed with generous amounts of diebetes inducing condensed milk. Then I realised, I have started drinking coffee again, and for no reason other than to drink coffee...
Check Hup White Coffee...
